Where has student activity participation gone?

On Monday evening, I attended the Creston girls and boys wrestling banquet. Coach Cody Downing said something that speaks to something I’ve noticed in my time in Creston.

“More than anything in today’s culture where you’re not going to get that instant gratification, a lot of kids just kind of choose the easy way and say, ‘Hey, I’m not going to put that time in, and I want to just go do things my own way.’"

I’m always shocked by the participation numbers of the sports in Creston because they largely mirror the numbers of the high school I attended, though we were significantly smaller.

I’ve only been in Creston since 2019 and didn’t start paying attention to sports until 2022, so I can’t say if this has always been an issue.

I was most disappointed when I started covering cross country to see the low number of athletes out. I’ve covered multiple seasons where the girls don’t even have the five runners necessary to score.

I can understand why not everyone would want to go out for a sport where the entire premise is running. But coming from a cross country town, it was really hard to see.

I graduated with 59 in my class. My high school is the only one in town and the largest in about a 30-minute radius, similar to Creston. Our total high school numbers were just over 200, much smaller than here. And yet, more than half of the school was involved in a fall sport.

When I was in high school, we had more than 30 boys and more than 30 girls in cross country. Getting on varsity was difficult, and it often changed depending on how the top JV runners performed at any given meet.

But again, I get how not every town is going to be big on cross country.

Even the winter sports this year, especially basketball, had low turnout when you look at the student population.

According to the 2025 CHS yearbook, there were 470 high school students last year. Let’s just round down and say there are 450 students this year.

Out of 450 students, 73 went out for winter sports. That’s 16.2% of the student population.

I know there are other factors. Some kids are in musicals, plays, speech, dance, etc... but it still feels small, and that’s true everywhere. I know some kids have to work, even if they want the opportunity to play participate in extra curriculars.

I think my biggest gripe is that parents often say “there’s nothing for kids to do in Creston,” and that’s just so far from the truth. Just through the school alone, there’s so much kids can do.

I come from a town of 2,400, a county without a single stoplight. All we had was McDonalds, Subway and Casey’s and nothing was open past 10 p.m. And yet, I was constantly busy.

During the fall, I would get to school around 7:30 and there’s no leaving until the final bell rings at 3:15 — none of this block schedule or leaving campus. You couldn’t even leave the building.

At 3:15, we’d head to the locker room to get ready for cross country practice. Practice lasts until about 5:30, then it’s time to run over to Subway before musical rehearsal starts around 6:30. It finishes around 9 or so and then it’s home for the day.

In the winter, I’d have cheerleading practice and running after school and then basketball games. I was also a wrestling manager, so my weekends were filled with tournaments.

In the spring, I was rehearsing for Forensics (our version of speech), the spring play and running for track after school. That’s not to mention meet days.

I just can’t help but think, if kids wanted something to do, they would do it. There’s only one opportunity in life to do a lot of those things, why not take advantage of it?

Whether you’re into the arts, sports or both, be involved. Encourage your kids to be involved. If they’re telling you “there’s nothing to do,” then show them all the options available to them.

I understand not everyone will be the best. Not everyone will be the lead in the play or on the varsity squad, but that doesn’t make it not worth it.